


Party Favors

by TheFirstAcolyte (DocStrunk)



Series: Where You Are [1]
Category: Psionics: The Next Stage In Human Evolution
Genre: Bad Decisions, F/F, Gen, Original Character(s), Psionics, Recreational Drug Use, cop killing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-04 03:53:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4124697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DocStrunk/pseuds/TheFirstAcolyte
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two dealers share stories at a house party in Arizona. One of them brought the good shit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“So, what do these things do?”

The woman sitting across from him smiled and leaned forward. There were three pills on the table in front of her. The basement was dimly lit and the sounds of heavy bass from the shitty techno music playing on the floors above thudded steadily in the background, mingling with the sounds of the beer pong game on the other side of the room. It was relatively quiet and empty down here though, at least compared to the rest of the house.

She gestured towards the blue pill “This one makes you fly. This one,” she pointed to the red pill, “makes you fireproof. And this cheery little bastard,” motioning towards the green pill,“ will make it so that no one can ever lie to you again.” He hated it when dealers got poetic, but she seemed to know what she was talking about when it came to party favors, and the weed she’d shared with him was the good shit. They’d struck up a conversation earlier, swapping dealing stories. She was into weed and he dealt in molly. It hadn’t been too long before she’d pulled him aside and asked him if he wanted to try some new shit she’d gotten her hands on. They must be hallucinogens, because he could see in her eyes, poetic fuckery aside, she wasn’t bullshitting him about the effects. God knows he’d said some crazier shit about molly and mescaline before. He pointed at the green pill. “Is that what did that to your hair?” He immediately regretted it. Chicks who dyed their hair crazy colors sometimes got shouty if you pointed it out, but she didn’t seem mad. She didn’t laugh either, though.

“I think I get ya, though.” He continued. “What do you mean by “fireproof” though? I’m not gonna, like, think I’m invincible and try to set myself on fire if I have a bad trip, right?” He’d had a bad experience on PCP last year. There were no stupid questions anymore.

She grinned. “Nah, nah, none of that Reefer Madness bullshit. I like the blue one best, personally. It makes me fly like an eagle.” She took a pull from the flask that she had been hitting and refilling since she arrived. She drank like…well, like a chick who could, and indeed had, introduce herself as a shaman with a straight face. “Don’t worry: I can talk you through a bad trip if shit goes sour. If it’s a good trip though, it’ll change your fuckin’ life. Trust me.”

“Yeah? Did it change yours?” Just once, he wanted to meet a dealer who tried to push their product with something other than the “It’ll change your life” schtick.

“In ways you can’t even imagine, buddy. Who knows?” She winked at him. “You may even turn out to be a shaman.” This chick was a fucking head case, but she was a nice enough one. Besides, she was built like a fucking bear and had mentioned that she liked to box earlier, so he opted not to make fun of her when she said shit like that. She started to say something else, but stopped halfway through and looked up, like she had heard something.

“What?”

“…Sorry, I thought I heard my friend calling me. But yeah. You should try one. ONE. These things are strong.”

“I dunno. How much?”

“First one’s free. Normally, they are…invaluable.” She sat back and crossed her arms, looking like she knew that there was no way he’d turn her down. He paused.

“…I dunno,” he said, uncertainly. He was already kinda messed up and he had work the next day.

She smiled at him like an adult who was about to teach a young child what a birthday party was. “Here, I’m not selling you the right way. Lemme show you something. Don’t freak out.” She leaned forward again and placed her hands a few inches above the three pills, spreading her fingers. The three of them levitated off of the table and towards her palms. She raised her hands up a few more inches, bringing the pills with them, like they were on strings.

“Pass your hand between the pills and my palms.” He did. There was nothing supporting them. “Okay, now take your hands away. I don’t need to do the motions, but I like a bit of showmanship.” He obliged. She brought her hands around beneath the pills. They hadn’t moved at all. Suddenly they started juggling themselves in midair. They never even came close to touching her hands. After a few moments, all three pills leveled out, floated across the table to him, and set themselves down in front of him.

“…How did you do that?”

“I took a blue.”

“How long does it last?”

“The trip lasts a few hours, but the effect is permanent.”

"Permanent?”

She nodded. “I haven’t taken a blue in a while. They’re scarce.” She studied him for a moment. “What’s your name, buddy?”

“Tim.”

“Tim.” The green pill nudged itself slightly closer to him. “I think you might like this one.”


	2. Chapter 2

Tim sat on the edge of the bathtub, feeling apprehensive. “How will I know when it kicks in?” _There’s no way this is gonna work. How fucking high was I before?_  


“Eh, give it, like, ten minutes. You’ll know when it hits.” Green-haired chick was leaning against the sink, rolling yet another blunt. She had insisted that they go somewhere private and the downstairs bathroom seemed like the best place to him. It was one of his common protocols for not dying. They were alone, but not so alone that she wouldn’t think twice about trying to rob or murder him. Now that he saw her in good light, between all scars and job stoppers, she looked more like a meth dealer than a weed dealer. “Oh, don’t scream, by the way.” His switchblade was in his hand and at the ready before she had finished her sentence. She threw up her hands, right hand carefully clenched around the weed.”Woah, woah, chill bro.” She then she _laughed._ Not nervously, either. She was actually fucking _laughing._ “I was talking about the trip. Shit word choice on my part. I’m sorry.” She looked calm as could be. In fact, she seemed a little excited. _Fucking psycho._ “Put that shit away; it’s not like you could even hit me.” She added, dismissively, before going back to rolling. _I bet the last asshole thought that too, bitch._ He wasn’t sure what to do. He still had it out, but her tone wasn’t threatening and she genuinely didn’t seem to be bothered by the knife. She offered him the newly finished blunt and a lighter. “Here, take a hit and chill.” Maybe he had just overreacted. His line of work made him paranoid and he was still fucked up.  


“You first.” Paranoia is just good common sense. She smirked and nodded.  


“I get ya. Alright, buddy.” She lit up, took a long hit, and blew a thick plume of smoke out of her nostrils before offering him the weed again. He relaxed and put the knife away.  


“You need to work on your goddamn people skills.” She chuckled as he took the blunt. He felt kinda pissed now.  


“I get that a lot. Anyway, I guess I was wrong. Looks like you’re starting early.”  


“Huh?” She quickly dragged two fingers under his nose and held them up for him to see. Blood glistened on them. She rinsed her hand off in the sink, grabbed a hand towel off of a nearby rack and held it out, still wearing that cocky fucking smile from earlier. He could feel it running down his chin now. _Jesus shitfucking Christ. What the fuck did she give me?_  


“Relax, it’s normal.” He wiped his nose. There was so much blood on the towel. She kneeled in front of him. “Relax, you’re ok. This is why I was all “don’t scream” earlier. You’re gonna feel a headache coming on soon.”  


“Then what?” _This shit better turn around soon, you cunt._ Between the “don’t scream” bullshit and the sudden nosebleed, he wasn’t in the mood for any more fucking surprises.  


“Then you’ll hear voices. Some people get mild synesthesia. To be honest, if you have a bad trip, it’ll be the worst one of your life. Sorry ‘bout that.” _Oh, you fucking bitch._ He briefly thought about hitting her right in her smug fucking face, but he didn’t want her to leave. He didn’t know what he was on and he got the feeling that no one else in the building did either. Punching a ‘roid monkey that wasn’t bothered by the prospect of being stabbed also seemed liked a shit idea. Now was not the time to lose his temper. She retrieved the blunt he had dropped and lit up again. “Don’t gimme that look. Someday you’ll thank me. Here.” She gently blew the smoke in his face.  


He inhaled the shotgun and tried to calm down. It worked slightly, but he could feel a headache starting, just as she had said. It built alarmingly quickly. Before he knew it, he was clutching his head in both hands, doubled over in pain. The bleeding got worse too. Much worse. Large, thick, droplets of blood splatted onto the floor. Too fast. He was bleeding too fast and too hard. Something was wrong. Something had to be wrong. He started to groan and shiver as panic welled up inside of him. Was this what a fucking hemorrhage felt like? His granddad had died that way and he’d always been scared of it happening to him. She placed her hands on his head and started massaging his scalp. It didn’t help the pain, but it managed to be somewhat calming.  


“Shhhhhhh, don’t scream. It’s ok.” She whispered soothingly into his ear. _Nothing about this is ok, you stupid, cunt!_ He was too scared and freaked out to move away from her. He wasn’t even sure he could move if he wanted too. His vision was blurring. His eyes felt like they might burst. He suppressed a sob, afraid of what might happen if he contracted his diaphragm too hard.  


“…ter this w..to…” The voice was faint and distant. He involuntarily tried to jerk his head up but she held him in place.  


“Shh, shh, shh, relax. It’s ok. Let it come.”  


“Yeeeeee…aaaaaa…ahhh-hhh-hh!” _Who the fuck was that?_ “I…ill hear you sa…” _And who the fuck was that??_ Suddenly, it was like he could hear everyone else in what felt like the entire motherfucking building talking. Some clearly, some like they were through old, shitty radio, some in short bursts, some loud, some quiet, some he recognized, some he didn’t. It was too loud. It was too fucking loud and he was bleeding too fucking hard and he couldn’t fucking stand the pain anymore. He was going to die. He was going to die at this stupid fucking party and this shwag-dealing whore was going to gank his shit. _No._ Furious, desperate, determination flared up inside of him. _No fucking way. That is not how this shit is going to happen._ He put his hands to his ears to try and block out the voices but they were coming from inside. He felt her hand under his chin. She gently lifted his head until he was looking into his eyes.  


“What’s on my mind, buddy?” He made a noise of confusion. What the fuck did she mean? He needed to get to a fucking hospital. What kind of psycho was this stupid bitch? “You’re doing it. Do it on purpose. What’s on my mind?” She took her flask out of her pocket and unscrewed it, never breaking eye contact with him. _How are you this fucking calm?_ “This is going better than usual, just so you know.” _HOW THE FUCK DOES IT NORMALLY GO???_ “You can hear them, yeah? Try to hear me.”  


Not knowing what else to do, Tim tried to focus on her as she took a long, slow, pull from her flask. He tried to focus on hearing her like he had heard the others. The other voices gradually faded as he tried to only hear her. A feeling of calm came over him. _“Welcome to the club, man.”_  


It was her voice. It was definitely been her voice. _But…she didn’t say anything._ She _couldn’t_ have said anything, she had been drinking. His headache was, miraculously, gone too. He collapsed back into the tub, breathing hard. She capped her flask and stood over him.  


“Ya wondering what club?” He nodded, weakly. She grinned from ear to ear. “Congrats, you were my first.” _First what?_ She threw the bloody hand towel into a small garbage can and handed him a new one. She seemed insufferably pleased with herself. “Lesse what you can do. What’s my totem animal?” _For fuck’s sake, you’re whiter than Michael Cera._ “Go on, I was thinking about it today. See if you can see. It’s in there.” He wasn’t quite sure how, but he sort of asked her without saying anything. A sense of serenity and relaxation came over him again and suddenly he just knew.  


“Eastern black bear.” _You fucking Tumblr dyke._ He reached out again to see what she went by, to see if he could find something on his own. The answer came just as easily as the last one. _Are you fucking joking?_ He didn’t even wanna know what her real name was. It was probably something like Moonstar or Kestrel or some other hippy bullshit.  


“It’s fucking crazy, isn’t it?” She seemed genuinely happy for him. “I don’t wanna wear you out, but let’s try one more thing.” She put a finger to her lips. “I got it! Try to get me to do something. Just look me in the eyes and tell me to do something and really mean it. I think that’s how it works, anyway.” That was easy.  


“Punch yourself in the face as hard as you can.” Pleasure filled him again as he said it, partially because he just really wanted her to do it after all of the shit that just happened. Disturbingly, all of her muscles seemed to flex at once, even though she hadn’t moved. Her right fist balled up and jerked towards her face, but it stopped halfway. It didn’t stop like she had just decided not to, she was actively resisting it; her arm was shaking with the effort and her face was knotted up. After a few moments, her arm dropped and her body visibly relaxed. She nodded approvingly.  


“Awesome! Ok, um, you might be able to do other shit, but it’s not safe to do it here.” There was a knock at the door.  


“S’me, babe!”  


The green-haired chick, who apparently made people call her Ursa Major, opened the door and let another woman in. This one was shorter, darker, and had way fewer piercings. She had hair like Sid fucking Vicious, except the right half was black and the left was blue. She kissed Moonflower Hempfuck on the cheek before closing the door and surveying the bathroom. Tim decided to try and get this chick’s name. Her real one. Jessica. _Ok, I like her better already._  


“Yeah, this looks about right.” She nodded, standing akimbo. “Less blood than I expected too. Good job, everyone. Great team work. Five stars. Would enter this room again.” Startits McNaturalFibers playfully nudged her with her shoulder.  


“Ya good for now?”  


“Oh, yeah. There’s a thing you need to take care of though. The others will tell you; they’re outside.”  


“They on you this time?” Ursula Von Summerbunny seemed concerned. Jessica most certainly did not.  


“Yup!” She replied, chipper as could be, pushing a strand of hair out of Meadow Kelphead’s face. “Don’t worry, our guardian angel has it locked in. We’ll be fine.” That seemed to dispel Vulva O’Keefe’s worries. As he picked himself up out of the bathtub, he heard soft giggling in his head.  


“Don’t be such a dick. She’s not that bad.” An unknown voice said, playfully.  


“Why couldn’t she, I dunno, Push them away or something, JJ?”  


“Well, I mean, the human body can only take so much coke in a day…”  


“How much have they had?” Ursa’s tone implied that she though whoever they were talking about could stand to take a bit more. Jessica looked at her exasperatedly.  


“Babe, he’s already in rehab for damatrol.” _He?_ He was pretty sure Ursa had said “she”.  


“Oh, right…” Ursa cringed. “I didn’t mean—“ She stopped and looked up. “Of course I appreciate you!” She said defensively, to no one in particular. “That’s not what I meant!...No I—…Well, then why am I talking out loud instead of freeloading? Close it off if you’re tired…That’s not why!” She turned to the mirror. “And you? Seriously?” Tim was agape. This chick was fucking insane. She pointed to the mirror. “You came just for that? I thought it was hard for you?...” Ursa stared into the mirror for a few seconds. A look of hurt came over her.  


“Which one is it?” Jessica asked, clearly entertained by the spectacle.  


“Mind your business!” Ursa snapped in reply before looking up again. “I’m sorry, ok? I’m sorry. I will try to be more mindful and considerate and careful and all that gay shit, ok?” After a moment she threw up her hands. “Jesus tittyslapping Christ, what do you both want from me?...I _KNOW_ you can’t see her!”  


“Um…” Tim felt like _someone_ should try and say something.  


“AND you’re both making me look like a head case in front of the new guy.” She looked to the mirror again and smiled. “Heh…Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry, I lost my temper for a sec there…I love you too…Bye.” She looked upwards. Jessica looked at Tim, rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly. “Ok, ok, jeez…Yeah…Uh huh…Got it…Ok, we’ll talk soon. Bye. Ok, I get a break!” Ursa turned to Tim. “This is my friend.” Jessica looked slightly irked at the last word. “She can help you out from here. The two of you should enjoy the rest of that blunt before anything else. ‘Specially you.” She handed it to Tim and looked at the two of them. “Um, guess I’ll see you guys soon. Be safe, ok?” She started to leave but Jessica grabbed her arm.  


“Yo, wait, wait, wait! What did he take, dumbass?” He noted that she had said “babe” and “dumbass” with the exact same cadence. _These two have got to be fucking._  


“Green, dumbass.” Ursa stuck her tongue out at Jessica before pecking her on the cheek and leaving.  


“Does, um, she do that a lot?” He asked carefully.  


“Forget shit? Oh, yeah. All the time.” Tim stared at her. “Ya gonna smoke that? C’mon, puff ‘n’ pass.” _So you’re a fucking psycho too then._ If ever he had needed this shit, it was now. He handed it over after taking a generous toke. _The fuck have I gotten myself into?_  


“What’s going on?” He felt like this chick might give a straighter answer than the other would have. She toked and slowly exhaled, studying him. She pursed her lips and clicked her tongue a few times before passing the blunt back.  


“Well…hmm. That’s kinda complicated, actually.” She considered the question for another moment before snapping her fingers. “Ok, I got it! Y’ever seen Firestarter?”  


“No.”  


“Aw, shit.”


	3. Chapter 3

Tim knew that that desert was cold at night, he’d lived in Arizona for three fucking years, but he still managed to find it within himself to resent it. Lousy fucking sand had one fucking job and it couldn’t even do that. Or something. It was fucking cold and he didn’t know where the fuck he was and he was still high and the chick leading him deeper into the Sonoran wouldn’t shut the fuck up.  


“So, what I’m sayin’” she said, for something like the zillionth time, “is that we weren’t _drunk_ but we had had a handle of vodka and, like, a million beers.”  


“Where are we going?” He had just discovered that reading minds was actually a thing, thanks to some green-haired diesel dyke, and he didn’t want to hear whatever stupid story her dumbass friend was telling.  


“You’ll see!” She announced cheerfully. “Anyway, there was this dude that my baby didn’t like, right? And our blood was technically liquor at the time, yeah? So, me an’ Mama Bear hatch a little scheme.” He considered reading her mind, but his thoughts drifted back to the party. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever want to read another mind in his life, after the shit he’d heard on the way out. Did people really call him all that stuff when he wasn’t around? Also, he felt weirdly drained and tired.  


“So, Ursa Major an’ me have quite the flask collection between us, ya dig? So, my Stabbington Bear comes up with this fucking sick idea for one of ‘em.” _Stabbington Bear?_ “So, what Makwa tells me is that she’s gonna pour like two shots of booze into one of the ones we don’t really like and then, get this, piss in it, right?” _Fucking disgusting, yet somehow not shocking._ Tim assumed that all of these weird ass pet names were for the green-haired chick. Looks like she wasn’t the only one who bought into that stupid fucking bear theme thing. A white, twentysomething, who likes weed calling herself a bear shaman; who woulda guessed? Maybe she found her spirit animal in gender studies class. Maybe that’s where she found this chick.  


“So, the whitest black bear I ever met goes and does it, don’t ask me how I know, right?” _Oh, Christ._ “So, me an’ my teddy go up to this dude and, like, if you lit a cigarette near us the air woulda caught fire, if ya get me, yeah? Cuz we, like, drank all of the booze in the free world that night and every beer you think you’ve seen since then has actually been an illusion.” _I wonder if I can make people see shit now?_ He thought about how Ursa had almost hit herself, just because he told her too. He had so many questions and had long since given up in getting any answers from anyone tonight. How much longer were they going to walk? Where were they going? What else could he do and how could he do it? Was this even real? “So, me an’ the americanus of painus—“, Tim groaned. His head hurt bad enough without this shit.  


“Jessica—“  


_“S’rude to interrupt.” She didn’t ask how I know her name._ “Anyways, Tit Bear an’ me walk up to this dbag, an’ she offers him a hit and tells him it’s _honey whisky._ ” She was starting to giggle. He was pretty sure she was running down if the best she could come up with was “tit bear” so, maybe if he was quiet, it would stop.  


“So the stupid cock wagon takes a hit and immediately projectile vomits! It was fucking awesome! Me an’ baby bear laughed so hard that I thought I was gonna piss myself cuz, I dunno if you know, we were both extraordinarily intoxicated, an’ that’s when he finally stopped hitting on me.” He waited a moment. It looked like she was finally done. Relief washed over him.  


“Jessica?”  


“Call me JJ.”  


“JJ,” _Fuck it, one more go._ “what was the point of that story? I mean, that other one said you’d help me out with that new…thing. Just…what was the fucking point of any of that shit just now?”  


“To distract you from the fact that a team of snipers has been following us ever since we left.” She said, casually. God, this chick was even worse than the other one.  


“No, but for re—“ A shot rang out, the sound of an explosion followed, and an agonized scream briefly ripped through the night. He stopped in his tracks, heart pounding. _What in the fuck was that?_  


JJ stopped and turned around. “Heh. Well, that takes care of that.” She smirked cheekily at him. “Chill a sec. We are…” She was looking up as she paused, like she was trying to hear something. Just like the green-haired chick had done before offering him a pill. “Fine! We’re good!” Tim stared at her. She was cheerfully humming and looking behind them, like she was waiting for something. “You know, for a psyker, you’re kinda jumpy.” Tim assumed she meant the mind reading thing, mostly because he didn’t want to fucking ask.  


“Can you do that too?” _Please, God, let something go right tonight._  


“Heh, nah.” _Oh, thank fuck._ “By the way, I didn’t really think you’d notice, but I decided that distracting you would be best. I mean, if you’d freaked out, they’d have fired for sure.” _What the motherfucking fuck have I gotten myself into??_ “Calm down! Everything was taken care of. If I kept walking to nowhere, they would assume that we were meeting others—“ _Other whats?_ “and waited before attacking. Too bad they were paying so much attention to us; I hear there’s lots of wildlife out here, yanno. Lions and tigers and b—“  


_“Alright, I fucking get it!”_ JJ snickered a little bit. He could see what she and Ursa saw in each other.  


“Oh! Also, I dunno if Ursa told you, but you can talk to people telepathically now. You can probably, like, send them mental images and shit too, unless you suck at this. Which you might.” _Classy…_  


“Good to know.” Truth be told, that was pretty fucking cool. He wasn’t in much of a state to appreciate it at the moment, but it was pretty fucking cool. JJ seemed content to leave him to his thoughts, which he appreciated. His mind was racing. Why had they given him the drug? Why that one, specifically? Why had people been following them and what the fuck had happened to them? Was he still going to make it to work tomorrow? Was JJ going to gab his ear off more? If he heard one more fucking bear reference or sentence ending in an unnecessary question, he was going to lose his shit.  


“We got some time now. No one else was following us.”  


“How could you know that?”  


JJ winked at him. “We have our ways.” She took a cigarette from behind her ear and held her left hand open in front of her. A flame, the size you’d get from a lighter, appeared in the palm of her gloved hand. She brought it close to her face and used it to light the cigarette before shaking it out. The look on her face gave him gave him the impression that that was her usual party trick. It was seeming less and less likely that this was all a dream.  


“Is that what happens when you take a red pill?”  


“Well, Reds make you better at it and, if you couldn’t do it before, you learn the basics of pyro. I’ve never taken a Red though.”  


“Then, how can you…?”  


“Some of us manifest naturally, especially if one or both parents were gifted. Mom and dad both are.”  


“You…you just could _do_ that one day?”  


“Well, I’m better at it now but pretty much, yeah. I mean, we’re all espers though, so it doesn’t really matter if you had to take the candy or if you’re a badass, sexy, wunderkind, like myself.”  


“Espers?”  


“People like us. Telekinetics, pyrokinetics, psychokinetics, and every kinetic in between.” She smiled at him.  


“So…does anyone who takes those pills get powers?”  


“Oh, fuck no. It’ll straight up kill most people, sometimes even if you’re an esper. We’re pretty rare, yanno.” Tim was horrified when he realized what Ursa had meant. _It’ll be the worst trip of your life. Sorry ‘bout that._  


“I…I could have died? She _knew_ that and she gave it to me?” Tim couldn't believe what the fuck he was hearing. Did his life not fucking matter at all to that psycho?  


“Eh, nothing ventured, nothing gained.” JJ brushed him off, casually. “’Sides, she had the go ahead. The odds were good that you’d be fine.” He couldn’t think of any response to that. He couldn’t believe what he was fucking hearing. The go ahead from who? “Did you try starting any fires?” He shook his head. “Well, now’s as good a time as any. See that brush over there? See if you can light it on fire. Don’t worry, I can put it out.”  


“…How?”  


“Same as how you did the brain mojo. Just will it to happen. Try to make it manifest on the brush itself, learning to throw fire is a little tricky at first.”  


He was too curious not to try. He looked at the scraggly desert brush and envisioned it burning. He focused, like he had at the party, but the feeling wouldn’t come. He gave up after a few moments.  


“No pyro, huh? See if you can pick up a rock.”  


“Like, levitating it?”  


“Yeah, you’re getting’ it.” She said encouragingly. “Try a little one though.”  


He looked at a small rock near his feet. After briefly focusing, the feeling came and it lifted itself a few inches off the ground. JJ clapped.  


“Well done! Try to pick up another.”  


He tried focusing on another rock, but he just couldn’t hold both at once. The first fell as the second lifted. He dropped it. He was starting to feel kind of achy. JJ nodded approvingly.  


“So, you’re a baby telek. Did you mess around with the brain mojo earlier?”  


“Um, I got Ursa to do something. I told her to hit herself. She didn’t actually do it, but she kind of…half did it.” Tim was not currently in the state to brain good. His life had been endangered and no one seemed to care. The world had stopped making sense hours ago. Psychic powers weren’t fucking real.  


“Oh, you Pushed her. Nice! Yeah, she’s hard to Push. It’s a crapshoot, even for Cyte.” She took a drag of her cigarette. “Don’t do that by the way, she tends to get…mean when people do that to her.”  


“She _told_ me to.” He said, defensively. JJ snickered.  


“That cocky bitch.” She said affectionately. “Well, looks like you’re off to a good start. High five!” She raised a hand, which was completely engulfed in flames. Tim just looked at her. “Aw, nobody ever falls for that.” She said, with mock disappointment. She shook her hand out and the flames extinguished. There was no sign that there had been any fire at all. “Hey, wanna see something cool? Well, something _else_ that’s cool?” Without waiting for him to respond, she looked at a nearby young saguaro. It was about three feet tall and skinny, but seemed healthy enough, near as he could figure anyway. She stared at it and he, expecting it to burst into flames, watched it as well. After what must have been at least twenty seconds, it suddenly crumbled into dust. Even after all of the shit that had happened tonight, he gasped and moved back a few steps.  


“How the fuck did you do that?” Could she do that to _people?_  


“Entropy.” She was grinning from ear to ear. “I fuckin’ _love_ doing that. Anyway though, I’m sure you figured it out, but being a goddamn superhuman comes with a few costs. Sorry, I didn’t answer your question before. Walls have ears, an’ all that shit. So, I guess to start: Do you like your job?”  


“Not really.”  


“Do you like school?”  


“No.”  


“Are you close to your family?”  


“I was raised in foster care.”  


“Perfect!” Seeing someone genuinely excited over the details of his shitty life was more than a little surreal, but damned if he knew what to do about that. They talked for what felt like a long time. By the end of the conversation, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to hug Ursa or punch her in the mouth.


	4. Chapter 4

His heart skipped a beat as he heard a vehicle approach. He didn’t know where they were, but there wasn’t a road in sight. JJ looked at him reassuringly and said something too quiet for him to hear. Headlights washed over the two of them as a jeep pulled up next to them. Stabbington Bear was at the wheel. A man and a woman were sitting in the back.

“Shotgun!” JJ shouted as she walked around the car and got in. Tim was grateful to finally be able to sit the fuck down. He hadn’t even realized how tired he had been until he was already buckled in. Besides, what the fuck else could he do? He didn’t know where he was and they’d been walking for a while. He still wasn’t really sure if he was awake or not. JJ threw her arms around Stabbington’s neck. “Was everything ok? No one’s hurt are th— _oh god, why are you sticky?_ ” Stabbington snickered as JJ recoiled.

“Sorry, babe. I juiced him…Oh, don’t give me that look.” JJ looked to the back seat. Tim followed her gaze. The chick next to him was fit-looking and had a pink, pixie cut. The guy’s hair was a mass of three inch long, orange, spikes. Both of them were glaring at Stabbington. Tim startled when he noticed the large, dark red, splatters on their clothing. Stabbington looked back too. “Oh, c’mon, guys. I told you not to get so close to him. Besides, that’s why I wear black all the time. It hides the mess.” They both kept glaring. “Ok, ok. I’m sorry.” She started the jeep and drove off.

“Are you all ok? Is anyone hurt?” JJ looked at all of them in turn, seeming genuinely concerned, surprisingly.

“I’m fine.” The woman replied flatly, still glaring at Stabbington.

“Whatever.” The guy was practically pouting.

“I’m ok. I do have to piss though. Hey, Skuzz, you got a flask I can borrow?”  


“Fuck. You.” The dude with spikey hair said, pointedly. Tim decided to try this telepathy thing. Hell, it wasn’t any crazier than anything else that had happened in the last two hours. He focused on JJ.  


“Hey, that story you told? When did that happen?” JJ snorted.  


“Yesterday.” She answered out loud. After a beat, Stabbington and the pink-haired women both burst out laughing.  


“FUCK. YOU.” The guy, Tim guessed that he was Skuzz, looked so pissed that Tim half expected Stabbington’s hair to spontaneously catch fire. _Shit, could he do that?_ Stabbington looked back at him in the rearview mirror with the most obnoxious smirk Tim had seen in a while. Tim felt some sympathy for this Skuzz guy, but he wasn’t really in the headspace to express it. It suddenly occurred to him that he didn’t know what Stabbington had meant by “juiced”. What the fuck had she done? On that note, what could the rest of the do? Could they all do weird shit with their minds?  


“Hey, guys?”  


“S’up, Cyte?” JJ called back to the pink chick.  


“Jazz needs a ride.”  


“Um…One ‘a ya got a lap free or…?” Stabbington asked.  


“And guns.” Pink chick added.  


“What?” JJ asked, seeming annoyed, but not surprised. She muttered something under her breath. Tim thought he heard “fucking broken” at the end, but that was it.  


“A ride and guns and now.” _What the shit?_ Tim opened his mouth to say something, but he didn’t really have any idea what the fuck to say. This had to be a dream. Telepathy didn’t fucking exist; he had just spoken aloud and the drugs were fucking with his perceptions or some shit. This was either a dream or some crazy prank from one of his douchebag friends.  


“No, it isn’t. Yes, it does. No, you didn’t. None of them are that smart and you know it.”  


“Shitting fuck, I _told_ him not to do it alone.” Stabbington rolled her eyes. Pink chick hadn’t said anything but that was definitely her voice a moment ago. Tim looked over at her. She was looking at Stabbington.  


“What? No you didn’t.” JJ said, confused.  


“I was thinkin’ it pretty hard.” Pink chick pinched the bridge of her nose, JJ threw her hands up and sighed, and Skuzz crossed his arms, swearing and rolling his eyes. “Shut up. Anyway, where?” No one said anything, but she took a hard left and started heading in another direction before accelerating. Tim and the other two made loud noises of disgust as the movement of the car forced all of them to lean into each other. When they separated, Tim actually felt his clothing peel off of pink chick’s. His stomach roiled when he realized why. “ _Fuck!_ Sorry, sorry, sorry!”  


“God _DAMN_ it, Rose! Are you trying to give us all hepatitis??” Pink chick yelled. Rose? Was that Stabbington’s name?  


“Hey, if she gives anyone hep, it’s gonna be me, ya fuckin’ homewreckers!” JJ snarked. _Fucking asshole._  


“Shut up, JJ.” Pink chick snapped, digging through the seat compartments. She found a wad of napkins behind JJ’s seat and started wiping off the shit that had presumably been accumulated during the “juicing”. She passed some to Tim and Skuzz. As he was scrubbing god knows what off his arm, Stabbington finally remember to introduce him.  


“Oh! This is Tim, guys. Tim’s a psyker.” _Thanks for remembering, asshole._ “ Tim, do you have any problems with killing cops?”  


“Uh—“  


“Perfect!” Stabbington was entirely too cheerful to be serious. There was no way she was serious. There was no _fucking_ way she was serious.  


“Nnnnope, she is! Call her Ursa or Rose, by the by. Stabbington Bear is a pet name.” _Ew._  


“Can he do anything else?” Skuzz asked. Amazingly, in the midst of this brewing shitstorm, he still had the presence of mind to resent that he had asked the others. _Yeah, dude, sure. Why bother asking me? That would make none of the sense._  


“I dunno. Guess we’ll find out soon.” Stabbingt— Ursa turned onto a road. She had to be going at least 30 miles over the speed limit, whatever the fuck it was out here.  


“It’s nice to see you in a good mood, baby.” JJ cooed, rubbing Ursa’s arm.  


“I don’t want to kill any fucking cops!” Tim was amazed that he actually had to say it out loud.  


“Ah, it’s always fuckin’ something with you, isn’t it?” Ursa replied, infuriatingly casually.  


“Are…are you guys like fucking terrorists or some shit?” Tim demanded. His guts were knotting up with anxiety and fear. This couldn’t be happening. That had to be a bad joke.  


“Yup!” JJ chirped.  


“When I’m in the mood, sure.” Ursa answered, in a tone of voice that he would have used to voice his feelings on Italian food.  


“That really depends on your perspective.” Pink-haired chick remarked, waving her hand dismissively.  


“This system’s fucked anyway, man!” Skuzz said, way too intensely.  


Oh. God. What had he gotten himself into? He _had_ to go to that fucking party and he _had_ to talk to the bear bitch and then he _had_ to try her fucking pills. He couldn’t believe that he had actually thought Ursa was nice at first. He was starting to feel faint and had a nasty headache coming on again, like he didn’t have enough fucking problems. Pink girl looked over and frowned slightly.  


“Here.” She pulled a plastic baggie out of the seat compartment, removed something from it, and handed it to him. A joint and a lighter. “Smoke quick, ok? It’ll help. Also, my name is Clara Cyte.” He didn’t really want to smoke any more, but he didn’t know what else to do and now was not the time to be anywhere in the same postal code as sobriety.  


The familiar, comforting, sensation of smoking up was kind of different than usual. The headache lessened rapidly and he felt strangely energized. What kind of strain was this? Was this shit laced with something?  


“Oh, it’s purple urkle, but any strain would do that to you.” Clara said. “Drugs are way better now, just so you know. You’re probably down on some juice.” _The fuck?_ “I’ll explain later.”  


_“Will you please stop doing_ …whatever the _FUCK_ it is you’re doing?” Tim snapped, utterly out of fucks to give. “You’re freakin’ me out!” Having someone respond to your _thoughts_ out loud was really fucking weird and it was making him paranoid.  


“Keep smoking. It’s an indica strain, so it’ll help with that too…Oh, right! Sorry.” She shrugged, looking apologetic.  


“Hey, um, whose fight songs?” Ursa asked, looking through an MP3 player that looked busted to fuck. “Not Cyte. You had it last time.”  


Clara put a hand behind the back of her head and blew a breath out through her lips. “Well…Lemme just show you.” Tim suddenly had a mental image, as though he were standing, peeking out of a third story window in a dark room. The street below was milling with cops. No, not just cops. Cops and guys in fucking SWAT jackets and guys in full fucking riot gear. It looked like they were trying to set up a parameter. This was the serious shit. It looked like they were gearing up to confront a black kid with a lemonade stand. He hoped against hope that this was random bullshit, but he knew, deep down, Clara had had something to do with what he was seeing and he had the sinking feeling that this Jazz douche, whoever the fuck that was, had something even more to do with it.  


“Ooh, that’s me this time, then!” Ursa said cheerfully as something loud and screamy started playing. “I fucking love that you can do that now, by the way, buddy.” Tim hated being right sometimes.  


“ _SHIT!”_ Tim had only known Clara for about five minutes, but he sensed that the fact that she had just loudly sworn was an extremely bad sign. “Code grey! They’ve gone fucking code grey!” JJ and Ursa both swore angrily and the latter accelerated even more. The fuck was a code grey?  


“Am I going to die?” He asked, without even thinking about it. He just didn’t know what else to say. Life had been normal three hours ago. It couldn’t have gone this crazy in three hours. That wasn’t how the world fucking worked.  


“Skuzz, you got any pineapples left?” JJ asked, either ignoring him or not hearing him. Skuzz smirked cockily and took a fucking _grenade_ out of the inside of his studded vest.  


“You fucking know it, ba—“ Ursa’s eyes flashed in the rearview mirror “JJ.” This was going to end soon. This was a joke.  


“Cyte, can you reach the guns from there?”  


“Do you want the folding stock or the laser sight?” JJ gave her a look. “Right, both, sorry.”  


“Would ya grab some more pineapples fer me too?” Skuzz asked. Clara was already digging through the back. This was a joke. He was on camera. They would say so soon. This wasn’t real.  


“Oh shit, guys. How d’ya like that?” Ursa's voice made Tim look away from Clara and out the windshield. His throat tightened with fear. At least six cop cars were blocking the road, lights on and sirens blaring. “Whatever shall we do?”  


“Don’t overexert yourself too soon, baby. Ya think they’ll—“ For a moment, fire flared up in front of JJ and Tim felt intense heat radiating from her. “Ewww!” She irately flicked a gob of something grey off of her coat. Why had she done that?  


“Oh, it is _FUCKING ON_ , now!” Ursa snarled. Then Tim noticed a small circular hole that was in the windshield in front of JJ. He barely registered that Ursa had raised her and snapped her fingers. Suddenly, as if a fucking bomb had gone off, the cars and cops in front of them were flying through the air in every direction. But there had been no explosion and there was no fire and any explosion strong enough to throw them as far as they were going would have disintegrated them. Ursa swerved around a guy who was careening towards them, screaming. Tim turned as he passed and saw him hit the ground three times before coming to a stop. He didn’t move. Everything was moving in slow motion. He looked forward again. The cars were scattered. One guy was falling. _She threw him straight up._ No, wait. It was a woman. She hit the road in front of them and the car violently bounced as they ran her over. No one outside was moving. He couldn’t see that many of them. He wondered if any had been hit by the cars. _She just killed at least a dozen people…_  


“Then she just saved at least twenty-four.” He heard Clara snap. This couldn’t be real, but it couldn’t be fake either, and he wasn’t dreaming. He was sure now. He felt like he wasn’t in his own body anymore.  


“What is code grey?” He heard himself ask. A brief, but pregnant, silence followed.  


“An order from the people who want to get their hands on us and Jazz.” Ursa answered solemnly. After another moment, oddly serene with houses rushing by and sirens getting closer, she spoke again.  


“Purge the witnesses.”


	5. Cut!

Well, hasn't this been a fun time, what with the cop killing and the drugs and the constant swearing and everybody being kind of a dick? 

Answer: Yes.

But who ARE these assholes? How did they get here? Why are they doing this? Not so much Tim. I think you all have a good idea of what brought him here, the poor bastard. So, for the time being, I'm going to hold off on posting the climax and start putting up the pages upon pages of fiction that I've written about the other characters and the choices they've made that ultimately lead them here. SPOILER: There's more swearing and violence and drugs.

**Author's Note:**

> The characters in this work are mine. Psionics: the Next Stage In Human Evolution is the the property of End Transmission Games LLC.


End file.
